


Dark Cathedral

by veeagainst



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-12
Updated: 2013-08-12
Packaged: 2017-12-23 05:26:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/922538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veeagainst/pseuds/veeagainst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short piece about the horrors of the first war against Voldemort and the strength of love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dark Cathedral

A shaking hand slipped down the stone wall. 

            “Are you there?”

            Something dark and ancient awoke and roared in the depths of the cathedral.

            “Remus, answer me.  Answer me, goddamn it!”

            The wall shuddered, rumbled, spit dust from the cracks in its mortar.

            “Remus!”

            Remus appeared around the corner, limping and clutching his arm.  Sirius could make out the dark gleam of blood staining his robes in the light of the black candles standing in every sconce and candelabra in every corner and on every table and pew-end in the vast echoing chamber of the nave. 

            “We have to _leave_ ,” Remus breathed, making it to Sirius’s side and collapsing against the wall.  “Did you hear that?”

            “What is it?” Sirius clutched at Remus, pulling him upright, trying not to grab his arm.  “What _is_ it?”

            “Shut up,” Remus whispered, raising the trembling fingers of his injured arm and pressing them to Sirius’s lips.  His blood was very warm and sticky against Sirius’s mouth.  “Shut up, shut up.”

            “Is it what I think it is?”

            “You thought it was me,” Remus said, a dark undertone of laughter in his voice.  “Didn’t you?”

            “It’s four days until the moon,” Sirius snapped. 

            “Are we leaving?” Remus asked.  His fingers slid away from Sirius’s mouth and landed on his chest.  “Or are we sticking around to meet their pet giant?”

            “How the hell did they get a giant into the crypt?” Sirius demanded.  He grabbed Remus’s hand, pressed it to his own beating heart. 

            “You scared?” Remus asked.  His splayed his hand out with a wince.  “You feel scared.”

            “I’m fucking terrified.”

            “Me too.”

            Sirius half-dragged Remus into an aisle.  Remus collapsed again next to a pew and Sirius hauled him onto it.  “Where are we?” Remus whispered.  “Are we close to the exit?”

            “Don’t know,” Sirius said.  “Don’t know, don’t know.”  He straightened and then dropped down again.  For a moment, he could not speak.  “Something is moving down there.”

            Remus twisted his head and stared into Sirius’s face.  “Could you see it?” he asked, his lips barely moving.

            Sirius shook his head.

            “They were doing the spell,” Remus said.  “I have to stand up.  We have to leave.  Where are we?”

            “The right arm of the cross,” Sirius said.  He could see the cathedral from above in his mind’s eye.  Top of the cross: elaborate gold and wood altar dating from 1285.  Left arm: empty pews.  Right arm: pews empty but for two insignificant half-men, half-canines.  Bottom of the cross, emerging from the stairs that lead into the crypt: giant, Death Eaters, the fruits of their labour…

            “We can make it,” Remus said.  “You can make it.  I’ll follow.”

            “Bullshit.”  Sirius stood and hauled Remus to his feet again.  Remus swayed against Sirius and then sank down; Sirius dragged him out of the pews and down the aisle, leaving a narrow stream of blood that looked black in the dim light.  “Fuck, what happened?”

            “Had to give the door blood to get in,” Remus panted.  “Scared.  Cut a bigger hole in my arm than I meant to.”

            “And the leg?”

            “Sprained my ankle on the way out of the crypt.”

            Behind them, they heard a shout and an answering roar.  Unable to help himself, Sirius twisted, taking Remus with him.  The magnificently ornate crucifix above the altar exploded; wooden limbs, head, and torso crashing to the stone floor already alight.  In the flickering light from the fire, they could see the Inferi moving up the aisles of the church. 

            “Sirius.”

            “I know.”

            They moved with sharp jerks, listing to different sides, leaving dark, lumpy shapes on the floor behind them.

            “Six of them.”

            “I see seven.”

            “Can we Apparate?”

            “No.  Not until we get outside.”

            “You’ll have to help me.”

            “Side by side, Remus.  Together.  I’ll help you.”

            Remus clung to Sirius’s arm suddenly, and Sirius knew that Remus would never have held to another so tightly.  He clung back, moved his wand over Remus’s injured arm, focused with all the power of the love he felt for this man, and heard Remus gasp as the wound healed. 

            “Do you see the door?”

            “It’s to the left of that last line of pews.”

            Remus pushed himself off of Sirius and somehow they made it to the door, collapsing through it and onto a set of stone stairs.  Sirius kicked the door shut – they had to have been heard – and turned to find Remus already halfway up the stairs.  He was on all fours, crawling.

            “This isn’t the exit,” Sirius said stupidly.

            “I know.”

            “Where the hell are you going?”

            “Away.”

            Sirius decided that this was sound advice.  He pointed his wand at the door and thought, “ _Colloportus_ ,” then followed Remus up the stairs as it squelched behind him. 

            They emerged onto a stone balcony overlooking the cathedral floor.  They could see the Inferi approaching their door.  A group of three Death Eaters stood in the far end of the nave, as far away from the foul things as they could be.  An indescribable smell rose from the Inferi and Remus staggered slightly as if he was going to faint again.  Sirius grabbed for him just as they heard a terrible series of cracks from below. 

            “Have they broken through the door?” Remus whispered. 

            Sirius shook his head and looked behind them, to the stairs.  “I can’t tell…”

            “Oh,” Remus breathed.  “Oh, Sirius.  We have to leave.”

            “I know,” Sirius snapped, still looking at the stairs.

            “Sirius.”

            “What?”

            There were more cracks.  The smell intensified.  Sirius thought he might be sick.

            “Look.”

            Sirius turned around and saw dust rising from the stone floor, slabs shaking and rising, centuries-old coffins disintegrating as their occupants struggled to break free. 

            “I’m jumping out the window,” Remus said rationally.  “Are you coming?”

            “We’ll Apparate as we jump,” Sirius suggested.  “Like in books.”

            “Sure,” Remus said.  “Good idea.  I think you’ll have to do the Apparating.  I’ll just hold on.”

            Sirius held out his wand.  With detached interest, he noted that his entire arm shook so hard that he could barely aim at the stained glass window in front of them. 

            “Oh, hell,” Remus said, leaning hard on Sirius and peering around him.  “They’re coming up the stairs.”

            The window blew out under the force of Sirius’s spell – seven saints and three cherubs now broken colours scattered to the winter winds – and he grabbed Remus’s arm and, with two steps forward, leapt into the freezing night.

            They landed in the churchyard, sitting down hard underneath the lowered arms of a bare-limbed tree.  Remus ran his fingers up and down the winter-brown blades of grass beside them.  His eyes were closed and Sirius fancied that he was a fallen angel lying among the hoarfrost covered earth underneath a canopy of black trees.

            “Are we safe?” Remus murmured.

            “Yes,” Sirius said.  He reached out and touched Remus’s face.  “Give me a minute and we’ll Apparate somewhere where we can get people to go clean up the cathedral.”

            “I wish,” Remus said quietly, taking Sirius’s hand in his own and pressing a kiss to his raw knuckles. 

            “Wish what?” Sirius whispered.

            “I wish I was a tree.”

            “So beautiful you’d never move again,” Sirius breathed. 

            “I wish we were someplace far away from here.”

            Sirius summoned all of the strength within himself and they Apparated deeper into the January night.


End file.
